On mobility
There are differing levels of mobility, and in a way clearing my garage of the accumulation of a decade (plus what arrived with us) is dealing with one type of immobility. If we wanted to move right now, if that chance in a lifetime came up, we couldn't.
Well, I'm sure we could but it would not be at all easy. So in removing these things we, as a family, become potentially mobile. Life opens up a little, even if it's just the existence of possibilities they are possibilities that did not exist yesterday.
A more modern form of mobility is the car. The specific one on my mind is the mini that is slowly rusting in my garage. It's only rusting slowly because its in the garage, if it was outside then it would be rusting quickly. Don't worry, rusting is what minis do, if they weren't so damn cool it's all they'd ever do. This was my third mini and I bought it from my brother over ten years ago, and when I collected it my future wife met my parents. Only briefly but still for the first time, and the first time for everything is a milestone, isn't it? Stop sniggering at the back.
As is the way with cars, we shared adventures and mishaps and eventually reached the MOT where welding was required. The car went into my garage for me to repair but time was never really found. Now it's time for it to go. It needs a new sill and A panel on the drivers side, and possibly some welding to the floor. I'm really not certain, I haven't looked for that long. The A panel on the passengers side would need replacing as would the wing which still has a horses footprint in it from when my brother had it. If you wanted a project then you would probably be looking at a respray, which is just as well because the paint is quite (no - very) shabby.
On the positive side, prior to being hidden away the brake master cylinder and most, if not all(not sure), of the wheel cylinders were replaced with new, steel brake pipes replaced with copper and flexible hoses with stainless braided versions. None of those thing is guaranteed to still be ok but it's a starting point and if they do work then the popular complaints about mini brakes are largely irrelevant with the other big positive on this car, which is a completely unmolested standard city e 1 litre engine. It may not have been touched for around ten years but my trust in these lumps has frequently been repaid, they may not be 100% reliable but they are simple engines, easy to fix and straightforward to strip down enough to decoke, free up, and get going.
The interior features the classic single central speedo and part vinyl upholstery typical of these cars. The rather nasty nylon houndstooth panels on the seats have been removed and replaced with denim in the back seat and drivers seat. I never got round to the passengers seat but am fairly certain that I have the material somewhere if wanted, denim is easy to match if I can't find it and you wanted to finish the job. It does look good, though I say so myself.
At some point someone decided they couldn't afford to buy as much petrol as it takes to fill a mini (not very much at all) and levered the petrol cap off, damaging the filler neck in the process I have a replacement tank to remedy this situation, I also have at least one, possibly two spare sets of sealed beam headlamps, some people find them not good enough and replace them with halogens and I got the spares. If I wanted more light on a mini I would always go with spots. Any other bits and pieces would be thrown in including a large pile of various mini magazines for inspiration.
Having checked similar sold cars on ebay and elsewhere, they seem to go for anything from two to four hundred, I would invite non insulting offers around the two hundred pound area, email or comment to ask for more info, including number to phone and chat about it.
IT'S SOLD
